Bio-Identical Hormones You Can Do Yourself

Until 2003 the standard medical treatment for menopause was hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with horse estrogen, artificial progestins, and mind-numbing drugs such as Valium® and Prozac®. Rarely are women tested for their basic hormones such as estradiol, estrone, estriol, DHEA, testosterone, pregnenolone, melatonin, growth hormone (GH), or thyroid hormones (T3 and T4). The fact that doctors prescribe powerful horse estrogen and estradiol without even testing a woman’s hormone levels is criminally negligent. The supposed “benefits” of HRT have been shown to be illusory. The serious side effects include higher cancer rates, but are not discussed. Under this treatment women just get worse and worse, and most of them eventually refuse to refill their prescriptions and continue with HRT.

By 1975 women on estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) were getting up to 800% more uterine cancer among many, many other problems. This forced the promoters to change this to HRT (hormone replacement therapy) by adding unnatural, Frankenstein, progestin analogs instead of real bioidentical progesterone. Since real progesterone cannot be patented, the molecular structure was changed allowing patents to be granted. This was done purely for profit! Now even wilder and more extravagant claims were made - again with no scientific basis at all. Any side effects were denied.

Of course, the side effects were every bit as severe as before, only different in nature, since progestins themselves are toxic and dangerous. Many doctors today use the terms “progesterone” and “progestin” interchangeably as if they were the same hormones! This is absolute proof of incompetency and ignorance.

Possibly the biggest medical fallacy going is that estrogen levels in women drop strongly after menopause, and these low levels are directly responsible for all the many ills modern women suffer. This includes everything from depression to hot flashes. Countless clinical tests prove quite the opposite. Doctors simply ignore all the other basic hormones. The fallacy continues that horse estrogen is the “Magic Answer,” and you don’t even have to test women for their three basic estrogen levels.

The truth of the matter is that Western women in America and Europe generally have excessive estrogen levels (even after menopause). This is proven by endless studies of actual blood levels - especially of estradiol and estrone. Have you noticed how very few women re-filled their estrogen prescriptions? HRT “therapy” did not fulfill the many promises made, and the side effects were simply intolerable. How many other women have ever told you how wonderful estrogen supplementation was, how much it helped them, and how you should try it, too? The fact is the HRT has been a dismal failure year after year. Nonetheless, doctors continued to relentlessly prescribe it, and women continued to mindlessly take it. Finally, in 2002 it was officially admitted to be too toxic to use. This has not stopped many doctors from continuing the charade however. Progesterone, pregnenolone, melatonin, estriol, T3, T4, DHEA, and testosterone can fall after menopause.

All three basic estrogens should be tested. Balancing all your basic hormones is the obvious answer. Menopause is anything but a disease caused by low estrogen levels, and cured by estradiol and estrone supplementation. Using horse urine estrogen, when bioidentical human estrogens are readily available, is insanity. Medical doctors almost never test women for estradiol or estrone, and certainly not for estriol, DHEA, testosterone, FSH, LH, prolactin, progesterone, melatonin, pregnenolone, thyroid hormones, or growth hormone. The many medical studies that have been done on women after menopause show that their levels of estrone and estradiol do fall somewhat, but just enough to prevent menstruation and fertilization. After menopause estrogen levels are intentionally high enough for all the other necessary and needed bodily functions. Nature understandably does not want women having children at this age. We can see the natural order stops childbearing at about age 40. Menopause is an important and necessary part of the natural order of life.

The postmenopausal levels of estrogens are sufficient for normal functioning of your body, and it is unusual to find a deficiency of estradiol or estrone in Western women. Doctors would do immeasurable good for women by testing the levels of ALL their basic hormones and balancing them as much as possible.
Fortunately, you don’t need to go to an endocrinologist, gynecologist, or even your family doctor to do so. Now you can accurately and scientifically test most of your own hormone levels with inexpensive saliva test kits without a prescription. You can test the others at Internet labs without a doctor. Doctors show almost no interest at all in such basic diagnosis and treatment of the whole body. What could be more central to your health than your basic hormone metabolism? Hormones affect everything in your body and your mind. Hormone balance is central to our well-being and longevity.

There are only three primary human estrogens we need to be concerned with and discuss.

ESTRIOL (E3), the “forgotten estrogen”, comprises approximately 80 to 90% of human estrogen. This is the most abundant, the safest, the weakest biologically, yet it can be the most beneficial. Since most women have excessive E1 and E2, but deficient E3, we will spend more time on estriol. Amazingly enough, almost no doctor or pharmacist seems to even be aware that it even exists, although it is the most prominent estrogen in our bodies. What little research has been done is extremely positive, and shows just how important this is for proper female metabolism. Estriol is not even manufactured in the U.S., sold in regular pharmacies, or listed in their source books. You must find a sympathetic and open-minded doctor, a compounding pharmacy to fill your prescription, and use sublingual drops, or a topical gel/cream. Do not use estriol unless you prove you are, in fact, low in it. Never take oral estriol, as it is poorly absorbed, and is broken down into unwanted metabolites.

You can find real estriol cream sold on the Internet now, even though it is a prescription drug. They generally only contain about 50 mg and are very overpriced. Remember that a two-ounce jar should state on the label it contains about 150 mg of real USP estriol (0.25%). Use a half gram daily.

You can inexpensively test your saliva levels to see that they are sufficient, or a doctor can order an expensive blood test. Time of day and time of the month are vital here as levels vary greatly. Use a half gram daily with a 100 gram 0.25% tube (250 mg per 100 grams) transdermal cream or gel. Or get sublingual (under the tongue) drops in vegetable oil made with 0.5 mg (500 mcg) per drop. Retest yourself every year to see how you’re doing. We should see more research done on this in the future. One day American companies will produce estriol creams, gels, and sublingual drops. Doctors will become aware of its importance, and this will finally become a regularly available natural hormone.

At Fujita Health University in Japan (Nippon Naibunpi Gakkai Zasshi v. 72, 1996) doctors studied obese women and found literally all of them were low in estriol. Not just most of them, but all of them. There are other such studies proving its value.

ESTRONE (E1) only comprises about 5 to 10% of human estrogen, and is much stronger than estriol, but weaker in effect than estradiol. Bioidentical transdermal (never take oral forms) estrone is readily available. The few women who are below range can use 100 mcg actually delivered into her blood sublingually. A topical cream/gel. 100 mg per 100 g tube (0.1%) would put 500 mcg on your skin and about 100 mcg (20%) in your blood using a half gram daily. Countless clinical studies show that American women generally have excessive levels of estrone from such factors as obesity (one third of women) and high fat diets. Americans eat about 42% saturated animal fats daily. It is uncommon to find a deficiency, even in women with hysterectomies.

Excessive levels can be reduced by a low-fat, high-fiber diet, losing weight, exercise, avoiding alcohol, and taking proven supplements like DIM and flax oil. Low fat diet is most important here. The prevailing medical fallacy is that women are somehow “deficient” in estrone. Women in Western countries generally have excessive levels and need to lower them. Do not use the dangerous anti-aromatase drugs to lower your estrogen. You can test your estrone level along with your estradiol and estriol with a inexpensive saliva kit.

ESTRADIOL (E2) also comprises about 5 to 10% of human estrogen. This is the most powerful and most dangerous estrogen. It is twelve times more potent than estrone, and a full eighty times more potent that estriol. It is often high in women for the same reasons as estrone is and can be lowered in the same ways.

Again, women are often told by their physicians they are deficient in estradiol and need supplementation without even testing them. In fact, they usually need to lower their levels. The few women who are actually below range can use 50 mcg actually delivered into their blood sublingually or topically in a cream/gel. A 100 g tube would contain 50 mg (0.05%), put 250 mcg on your skin and about 50 mcg (20%) in your blood using a half gram daily.

Horse estrogen was the most prescribed drug for women in the world with 45 million prescriptions a year. In 2002 it was finally admitted to be a dismal and dangerous failure. Nevertheless, it is still a popular drug even though it has been scientifically discredited. Horse estrogen is actually extracted from the urine of pregnant mares. Unbelievable! Horse estrogen is composed of about half estrone and estradiol, and half equilin and other equine (horse) estrogens. It is medical insanity to give a foreign animal estrogen like equilin to women. Doctors did not even test their blood levels, nor use or real natural progesterone with it. The prescription insert admits that breast and uterine cancer are side effects, as are gall bladder disease, abnormal blood clotting, and heart disease. Seventeen specific side effects are also listed.

The main estrogen used in birth control pills is ethinyl estrogen, and is very dangerous even at low doses. This is a completely synthetic estrogen that does not exist in nature. It is actually more potent than estradiol (E2). Find another means of contraception (e.g. tubal ligation) and do not use The Pill to avoid pregnancy. The long-term use results in severe side effects including various forms of cancer.

It seems every author on natural health is telling you that soy isoflavones are “phytoestrogens”, or plant estrogens, that bind to the estrogen receptors in our bodies. Ladies, this is the biggest crock since the “earth is flat” theory. Hormones only exist in animals, and never in plants. Soy isoflavones are plant pigments unrelated to hormones in any way, shape or form. Plant pigments have nothing at all to do with estrogen or any other hormone chemically or biologically. Yes, isoflavones are a valuable and proven supplement to take, but they have nothing at all to do with estrogen levels, estrogen receptors, or anything else related to estrogen. Even scientists and medical journals repeat this fallacy. There are no “phytoestrogens” in plants, never have been, and never will be. A similar fallacy is promoted with “xenoestrogens” which are supposed to be environmental toxins that mimic estrogen and attach to your estrogen receptors. Certainly, there are many environmental toxins we have to deal with, but none of them have anything at all to do with estrogen or any other hormone. Hormones are secreted by mammals and not by plants or plastic factories.

SERMs should be mentioned in this chapter. SERMs are selective estrogen receptor modulators. They are also called “designer estrogens”. These are just more toxic, synthetic, unnatural prescription poisons that will make your health and life worse. These dangerous drugs turn on some of the estrogen receptors in your body, and turn off others. The complex mechanism of their action is really not understood well at all. Obviously SERMs are anything but natural, and the effects they have on your body are very unbalancing. These may turn out to be even worse than horse estrogen and progestins in the end. Do not use these under any circumstances. Do not use any aromatase inhibitors to lower your estrogen levels either. Doctors cannot help you here, but they certainly can make you worse. Women need to take responsibility for their health and learn the facts about natural hormone balance.

This is the reason for the article you are now reading. Women should demand all their basic hormone levels be tested. Doctors need to learn about natural hormone balance, test all the basic hormones, and only prescribe bioidentical hormones in the proper amounts. It is almost impossible to find a doctor of any kind who understands these things. Take responsibility for your own health and saliva test your own levels. That doctors routinely prescribe horse estrogen, estrone and estradiol without ever testing the women they give these to is criminal. The fact they seem completely unfamiliar with such basic hormones as estriol, DHEA, testosterone, pregnenolone, growth hormone, and melatonin is equally so. Natural hormone balance is essential.

Estriol - the Forgotten Estrogen

ESTRIOL (E3) needs a separate chapter for many reasons. This is the most prominent of all estrogens, and comprises about 80% of human and mammal estrogen. It is the good, friendly, beneficial, and safe estrogen, and has a lot of benefits. This is the orphan or forgotten hormone (along with pregnenolone). The research on estradiol (E2) and estrone (E3) is not only overwhelming, but very often unnecessary and repetitious. Much more work needs to be done with estriol, especially for various diseases and conditions. The research that has been done has been most impressive. The more we learn about this basic hormone the more benefits we are going to find for women who are deficient. Even though most of the research was done with oral doses, the doctors still got dramatic results. They will get much better results when they use the proper sublingual and transdermal forms.

Estriol is rarely deficient in men, by the way, and men do not need to test this. Deficiencies in women, especially over the age of 40, are all too common. You can even find estriol deficiencies in teenage girls, especially those who are overweight. Western women are generally low in estriol, while high in estradiol and estrone. Doctors do not have the word “estriol” in their vocabulary. This lack of knowledge includes endocrinologists, gynecologists, naturopaths, holistic, and life extension specialists. Pharmacies do not carry it, and cannot even special order the oral tablets. Never take oral estriol, estradiol, estrone, progesterone or testosterone. Oral estriol does not work. One mg of sublingual estriol equals ten mg of oral estriol, so you get lots of unwanted and harmful metabolites. Regular pharmacists cannot help you here. Only a compounding pharmacist can get this, but they are rarely knowledgeable either. Only about 20% of transdermal estriol cream is absorbed into your blood stream, so 80% is wasted. You need about 150 mg per two ounce jar, and use a half gram a day (Smoky Mountain Naturals has this). Please remember that figure - 150 mg per 60 gram (two-ounce) jar of USP estriol. This is 0.25% or one quarter of one per cent (1 part in 250). Always use transdermal hormones on thin skin like your neck, abdomen, or inner wrists. DMSO solutions are 99% absorbed, but not approved by the FDA. Vaginal gels and suppositories are inconvenient and unnecessary.

The best way to use estriol is to get 0.5 mg (500 mcg) per drop in vegetable (not mineral) oil from a compounding pharmacist, and use this sublingually (under your tongue). You can expect about 99% absorption this way. Estriol is very inexpensive at about fifty cents a gram, or $500 a kilogram. Compounding pharmacists will literally charge $50 for fifty cents worth of this. Mexican and offshore online pharmacies just do not sell transdermal, much less sublingual estriol. You can buy two-ounce jars on the Internet for $20 fortunately. It is not legal to sell estriol without a prescription, but you will often see transdermal creams sold on the Internet. These are usually expensive, weak, and may only contain 50 mg per two-ounce jar. Do not buy these, as they are too weak to have any beneficial effect. Homeopathic estriol contains nothing at all.

How do we know higher levels of estriol are good for women? Rural Asian women in general have much higher plasma levels due to their much healthier diet and lifestyle. They also have lower estradiol and estrone levels. Rural Asian women have a small fraction of the various cancer rates Western women do, especially breast, uterine, cervical, and ovarian. They suffer far less from other diseases, such as coronary heart problems, osteoporosis, PMS, menopausal issues, diabetes, and the rest of the epidemic illnesses American women do. Vegetarian, macrobiotic, and athletic women all have higher estriol levels than normal women. Blood levels go up dramatically during pregnancy, like progesterone, to protect the fetus.

You must have high normal levels and not merely normal Western levels, since the rural Asian standard is healthier. High normal levels are the ideal here. Kathleen Head did a lot of research on estriol. She published a fine study complete with 47 very good references (Alternative Medicine Review v 3, 1998). She emphasized the benefits and safety. Estriol should be used with real progesterone for best results. She quoted international researchers on the known and proven benefits. Estriol helps reduce hot flashes and other menopausal problems, helps build bone, is brain and memory supporting, helps stabilize mood, helps urogenital conditions such as incontinence (common in older women), lowers blood pressure, lessens CHD risk, lowers LH and FSH levels, restores healthy vaginal flora, reduces vaginal dryness and atrophy, reduces breast disease risk, and helps oppose androgen dominance.

Some of the best proof we have for the benefits of high normal levels is obese women. Obese women suffer far more of every illness known to science (except osteoporosis). Studies show overweight women generally have low estriol and high estradiol and estrone levels. One study proves the case very well. At Fujita University in Japan obese women were studied for an entire panel of hormones. Of course their estradiol and estrone were too high. The estriol levels in every one of these women were deficient! Not 99%, but 100% of the obese women were low in estriol and needed supplementation. (Nippon Naibunpi Gakkai Zasshi v 72,1996). One third of American women are obese, and two thirds are overweight. The real answer here, of course, is not just to use estriol, but to lose weight with diet and lifestyle.

Osteoporosis is an epidemic in the elderly, especially women. This is covered in Topic 5: Osteoporosis. A total program of diet and lifestyle will certainly include estriol balance. Estriol is proven to help promote bone and joint health. A study in Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecological Research v 22, 1996 showed this. Also studies in Maturitas v 1, 1979, and Nippon Sanka Fujinka Gakkai Zasshi v 48, 1996, International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics v 92, 2006, and Nippon Ronen Igakkai Zasshi v 33, 1996. Estriol works best with a comprehensive program of diet, lifestyle, proven supplements (like flax oil, glucosamine, minerals, and vitamin D) hormone balancing, and resistance exercise to prevent and cure bone loss. Rural Asian women do not experience this epidemic of osteoporosis because of their diet, lifestyle, and manual labor.

As women age their urogenital system tends to weaken, and many problems can develop. Estriol can help with many of these as well. In the New England Journal of Medicine (v 329, 1993) doctors found this helped reduce urinary tract infections. These are all too common in women, especially as they age.

In the journal Menopause v. 11, 2004, at the University of Sassari in Italy, doctors found urogenital health was improved with estriol supplementation alone. No other treatments but this, yet they got very impressive results. This included the usual symptoms such as incontinence, vaginal atrophy, and urinary tract infections.

In Turkey vaginitis was reduced (Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences v 28, 1998). Vaginal infections by Ganarella and other such yeasts are common, as well as chronic, in many women and difficult to treat. This therapy was aided by acidophilus supplements.

In Copenhagen (British Journal of Gynecology v 107, 2000) the same treatment of this was also successful as well as for incontinence, urgency, nocturia, and dysuria. Estriol was applied directly to the vagina.

Same results for urogenital atropy in general in the Netherlands (European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology v 71, 1997). In Brussels doctors treated bacterial vaginosis with low dose estriol and acidophilus very successfully (Arzneimittel-Forschung v 46, 1996) with an 88% cure rate and no other treatments.

It is very interesting that estriol cream (0.1% to 0.3%) has been shown to be a wonderful skin cream especially to reduce scars. Generally, only surgical procedures can reduce scarring, and they are expensive and of limited effectiveness. At University Hospital in Finland (Annales Chirurgiae et Gynaecologiae v 76, 1987) women with acne scars with were treated with topical estriol cream. The elastic fibers in their faces were thickened, scarring was reduced, and the total skin thickness was actually increased which is all but medically impossible.

Doctors at the University of Hautlinik in Vienna (Zeitschrift fur Hautkrankheiten v 58, 1983) showed that raising blood estriol levels in women with acne imroved their condition. Doctors who used 0.3% estriol cream (International Journal of Dermatology v 38, 1995) found that it reduced atrophic acne scars in men and women in only 90 days. The photos were very dramatic.

More studies were published in International Journal of Dermatology v 34, 1995 and Archives of Dermatological Research v 256, 1976. This has been known about for more than 30 years, but unknown to the medical profession, even to dermatologists and plastic surgeons.

Doctors are in the Dark Ages and almost completely divorced from the amazing advances in the international published research. Estriol should be a mainstream, normal part of medical practice but is almost completely unknown....the “orphan or unknown estrogen.

Natural Progesterone

Whenever we use hormone supplements we should use the natural, bioidentical forms in such doses that maintain our normal youthful levels. Not normal levels for the elderly, but youthful ones. This is one of the seven main pillars of natural health and life extension. Most all of the supplements and hormones we buy are, in fact, synthesized, but are equivalent to the natural human molecule chemically and biologically.

Synthetic vitamin C, for example, is very inexpensive and always used in supplements regardless of what you’ve been told by the vitamin companies. Natural vitamin C extracted from fruit, on the other hand, is a laboratory curiosity, and is far too expensive to use.

Progesterone (as well as estradiol, estrone, estriol, testosterone, pregnenolone, melatonin, DHEA, etc.) cannot be extracted from cadavers or dead animals. They must be synthesized from soy sterols and other natural bases. Unscrupulous supplement promoters used to put plain yam extract into creams. They told women this was the “biological precursor” to real progesterone. They said the body would “convert” it. This disappeared from the marketplace.

Homeopathic progesterone contains nothing. Read the label on the jar. The product must clearly state exactly how many milligrams of progesterone are contained in it. Many creams simply refuse tostate this, so don’t buy them. Again, the label must clearly state how much actual USP progesterone is contained in the jar. A good cream should state that a two-ounce jar contains about 800 to 1,000 milligrams (400 to 500 milligrams per ounce in other words), and retail for about $10. Bulk progesterone is only about $500 per kilogram, so there is no reason to pay more.

Progesterone is not absorbed when taken orally. The liver breaks it down into unwanted byproducts and metabolites, and very little progesterone is actually absorbed into your blood. Pharmacies and doctors often sell such ineffective oral overdoses.

Never take oral progesterone (or estrogens). Injections are totally unnecessary, and very impractical. Suppositories (anal or vaginal) are completely unnecessary. A nasal spray would have to be approved by the FDA, as it would be considered a new drug form, and require government approval. You would also need a prescription.

Progesterone readily penetrates the skin and enters into the bloodstream therefore bypassing the liver. About one third is absorbed this way. Transdermal creams are far and away the most effective, proven, safest, least expensive, and most convenient way to use it. Sublingual (under the tongue) vegetable oil drops (10 mg daily) would work, but are not available without a prescription. DMSO transdermal solutions (also, 10 mg a day) are not approved by the FDA. Progesterone cream is an over the counter product, and no prescription is needed.

Use a good brand of cream (Smokey Mountain Naturals Company) during the days from day 12 to 26 of your cycle (day 1 is the first day of your actual period). This follows the natural cyclical pattern you experience, since this is when progesterone is released by the ovarian follicles. A half tea-spoon a day applied to thin skin will give you about 30 milligrams on your skin, and about 10 milligrams should actually enter your bloodstream.

During perimenopause, when periods are irregular, this can become more difficult to do. Just do the best you can here to use it 14 out of every 28 calendar days. After menopause you can use a quarter teaspoon any two weeks of the calendar month as an easy to follow pattern. This will put about 5 mg into your blood. You do not need to use more than this. You simply need less progesterone (and less estrone and estradiol) after menopause. Use this the rest of your life.

It is crucial to use natural hormones, in natural ways, in normal physiological amounts to maintain youthful levels. Youthful hormone levels help us stay in the best of health, and live as long as possible. Progesterone is very safe and nontoxic, especially in the amounts we’ve talked about. There are many benefits of progesterone supplementation, and more are being discovered.

There are quite a number of studies proving that transdermal progesterone creams are effectively absorbed into the blood, and have the dramatic effects we have been talking about. More studies are being done all the time that show natural progesterone can be of great benefit to women in ways we haven’t yet discovered. Progestins are NOT “synthetic progesterone” at all. We’ve seen that all bioidentical human equivalent hormones such as natural progesterone must be made in laboratories. Progestins, however, are unnatural analogs (completely different molecules) of real progesterone. They are taken orally. Progestins are very, very different chemically and biologically. They have none of the wonderful benefits of progesterone, but have many serious side effects.

Surprisingly, you will often hear medical doctors and other health professionals call progestins “progesterone.” This is inexcusable ignorance on their part. Progestins are part of most all birth control pills, as well as traditional HRT. Progestins do not exist anywhere in nature, and should never be used. The most widely sold progestin is Provera®, which is medroxy progesterone. Natural progesterone cannot, of course, be patented for profit, and Provera® is the most popular patented progestin.

Natural progesterone in normal doses has no known side effects or contraindications. All progestins however, have many such negative effects. By law these must be listed in the package insert. Read this and you will see five specific side effects, eight contraindications, ten adverse reactions, and five consequences. That’s 28 different and compelling reasons not to take them. Liver malignancy, cystitis, depression, fatigue, headache, nervousness, dizziness, insomnia, epilepsy, asthma, cardio-pulmonary aggravation, as well as lowering the levels of real progesterone are just a few of the reasons not to take them. Add to this list fluid retention (edema), possibility of birth defects, breast cancer, blood clots, menstrual irregularities, skin problems, hair loss, and weight gain. You wonder why anyone in their right mind would even consider taking a drug this dangerous - or why any doctor in their right mind would prescribe them. No competent physician should ever prescribe progestins. They have no valid use. Remember this includes birth control pills. Read your labels ladies.

Obviously there is only one reason that toxic drugs like progestins are so heavily marketed and sold to unsuspecting, naive women- instead of inexpensive, natural, bioidentical, non-prescription progesterone. That reason is PROFIT. There is no other reason to give women expensive, dangerous, unnatural prescription analogs, with a long list of side effects, and no real benefits. Let’s look at some of the differences between the effects of progesterone versus that of estradiol and estrone. Estrogens stimulate endometrial growth, stimulate breast growth, raise blood pressure, retain water (edema), stimulate blood clotting, stimulate malignancies and cancers generally, remove dead bone cells (osteoclasts), weaken immunity in excess, promote tumor and cyst growth, aggravate PMS, increase inflammation, upset menses, worsen arthritis, increase menopausal symptoms, speed ageing, decrease fertility, increase the incidence of abortion, and cause obesity. In men excess estrogen is the basic cause of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer parallels breast cancer.

Progesterone helps prevent and cure prostate conditions in men. It is obvious that estrogens (in excess) have very toxic effects on us, while progesterone has safe and protective effects.

Estradiol and estrone certainly are important for our health in moderation, but are very dangerous when the levels are high, or there is not enough progesterone to balance them. The ideal is to have the youthful levels you had at about the age of 30. You are better off doing this yourself, and not depending on any doctor. That includes gynecologists, naturopaths, life extension specialists, and endocrinologists. That’s right; stand on your own two feet and take responsibility for your own health and welfare. Be your own doctor as much as possible. You can use saliva hormone testing and Internet testing without a doctor. Most all hormones are legally available on the Internet without a prescription for personal use.

We have already discussed women who take birth control pills and why they should use progesterone. We have also discussed women who have had hysterectomies. Using progesterone is rather different for pre- and postmenopausal women, but just as easy. If you are no longer having periods just use a quarter teaspoon every day any two weeks of the calendar month. The same two weeks each month (first, middle, or last). A two-ounce jar will last over two months when used this way. You will do this the rest of your life, and benefit greatly from it. Remember one third of your life will be spent after menopause. Make this a healthy, happy, and fulfilling time.

If you have a specific problem, like fibrocystic breasts or endometriosis, you can apply the cream directly to the area that is affected. Always apply this to soft, thin tissue, and not thick areas of skin. Breasts, abdomen, inner thighs, and inner wrists are all soft, thin tissue that progesterone penetrates well. If you apply this to thick skin, like stomach or arms, the progesterone will basically just penetrate the skin, and tend to stay in the fat cells rather than entering the bloodstream. There is no need to use larger amounts.

More is not better with any hormone. You are looking for a natural balance of estrogens and progesterone, and not excessive levels of any hormone, no matter how beneficial. Here saliva testing does not work well. Progesterone is fat soluble, and does not carry well in saliva or plasma. Do not use saliva tests for your progesterone. You really don’t need to test your progesterone level, especially if you are over 40. High progesterone levels are very rare, especially after menopause. [It should be noted that ZRT Labs says their saliva testing for progesterone works. See link at the bottom of the page to obtain a test kit.]

Progesterone is very safe and non-toxic, with no known side effects. The most you will ever use is a half teaspoon of cream (about 33 mg) two weeks per month.

Women who are still having periods should be assured their estrogen levels are sufficient- or they wouldn’t be able to menstruate. Any doctor that wants to give you synthetic progestins instead of real natural progesterone, or wants to give you estradiol or estrone without testing your levels, is telling you he is not competent to treat you or anyone else. Women who are taking horse estrogen, estradiol, or estrone should cut back slowly over a three-month period to get off them. After you are off all estrogen supplements for at least one month you can have your free levels of estradiol, estrone, and estriol tested to prove that your levels are sufficient. The fact is, that most women in America have too much estradiol and estrone from fat intake, obesity, alcohol use, lack of exercise, low fiber intake, and other factors. Therefore, such estrogen supplements make an already bad situation even worse. You’ll notice that your doctor is probably not even aware of estriol, the third estrogen. This proves the inexcusable lack of knowledge in the medical profession.

Besides progesterone and the three basic estrogens, it is important to realize that our endocrine (ductless glands that secrete our hormones) system is a united and synergistic system. No hormone works alone; all our hormones work in concert together in harmony as a team. They work best when they are at youthful levels. Always remember that these hormones all work together in concert, and should all be balanced at youthful levels as much as possible. Progesterone is a very beneficial hormone, but is only one part of the endocrine picture and has the greatest benefits when supported by all the others.

This page on Bioidentical Hormones is extracted from a booklet written by Roger Mason. If you are interested in this subject, you will want to get the entire booklet. Its title is Natural Health for Women and is available as a free PDF file at:

www.youngagain.org/books/NHFW.pdf

A test kit for determining hormone levels can be purchased from Young Again and also from Smokey Mountain Naturals. It costs less this way than calling ZRT Labs to get a test kit.

Roger and his wife made a fortune in the media business even though his schooling and training was in chemistry. They are retired and now operate a not-for-profit business selling supplements online and this they do as a mission or a calling.

These are the very best of supplements and at reasonable prices. Roger advocates a whole-foods, plant-based diet and has another free booklet which can viewed as a PDF called Macrobiotics for Americans. If you purchase supplements from Young Again online, you will be offered to select a free printed copy of any of Rogers numerous and excellent booklets (including Natural Health for Women). He also has written hundreds of excellent articles on wholistic health available to read at his website.

Go to: www.youngagain.com

At the time of this writing, estriol cream and progesterone cream with the amount of hormone-per-ounce recommended by Roger can be purchased from Smoky Mountain Naturals on line. There may be other sources but your author has not been able to find them.